Housewife Raja Dalelah, 53, claimed to have seen a stricken jet near the Andaman Islands on a flight to Kuala Lumpur, on the same day Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8.

Last week, authorities searched hundreds of uninhabited islands in the Andaman Sea, after military-radar tracking evidence suggested the missing plane could have flown hundreds of miles off its intended route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, taking it towards the archipelago.

However, searches have now moved to near the southwest coast of Australia, after debris that could belong to Flight MH370 was spotted floating in the ocean.

Mrs Dalelah from Johor, Malaysia said she saw what looked like an "aeroplane" submerged in the Indian Ocean as she flew past the Indian city of Chennai.

Speaking to Malaysian newspaper The Star, she said: "I had seen several shipping liners and islands from my window earlier. Then, I saw the silvery object.

"I took a closer look and was shocked to see what looked like the tail and wing of an aircraft on the water."

Australian air crew are still hunting for the Malaysia Airlines plane [EPA]

She claims she lodged a police report hours after touching down in Kuala Lumpur after her journey from Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which was five days before search efforts were expanded to the Andaman Islands.

The mother-of-ten added: "I know what I saw. I am convinced that I saw the aircraft. And I will not lie. I had just returned from my pilgrimage."

Her comments came as the search off the southwest coast of Australia entered its second day today, after yesterday's effort ended without finding anything.

Five aircraft are involved in the search – four are currently in the air with a US plane heading toward the scene.

Conditions in the area are said to be perfect today after yesterday's search was hampered by poor visibility - which saw some planes having to fly just 200 feet above the water to stay below thick clouds and fog.

But due to the remote location, planes can only search for two hours at a time before having to return to land.

John Young said more aircraft were on the way [CNN/REX]

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said: "It's about the most inaccessible spot that you can imagine on the face of the Earth, but if there is anything down there, we will find it.

"Now it could just be a container that's fallen off a ship. We just don't know, but we owe it to the families, and the friends and the loved ones to do everything we can to try to resolve what is as yet an extraordinary riddle."

Australia's deputy prime minister Warren Truss said the suspected debris may have sunk.

He said: "Something that was floating on the sea that long ago may no longer be floating. It may have slipped to the bottom."

Australian, New Zealand and US aircraft will be joined by Chinese and Japanese planes over the weekend.

India said it would also be sending two aircraft, a Poseidon P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft and a C-130 Hercules transporter.

Robert Mark, editor of Aviation International News Safety magazine, said the position of the sighting adds to the theory the crew were incapacitated and thinks an onboard emergency was to blame.

Speaking to the Mail he said: “What I think is interesting is that if you look at where the plane was last seen on radar and where the debris has been found, it is almost a straight line.

“I would say it means that once the aircraft turned, it didn’t change course. A mechanical fault or emergency seems more plausible to me.”

But Dr Stephen Wright, aviation lecturer at the University of Leeds, ruled out the theory, saying it was more likely the plane was intentionally flown off course.

He told The Times: “It just doesn’t make sense. Why would anybody fly in the opposite direction and turn off all communication systems? One can only surmise that is is something wayward.”

An Australian AP-3C Orion plane is already at the scene [GETTY]

Jets were first scrambled to the area yesterday after debris was spotted floating in the ocean that could belong to Flight MH370.

Australian officials said the objects were spotted by satellite in one of the most remote parts of the globe, around 1,550 miles southwest of Perth in the vast oceans between Australia, southern Africa and Antarctica.

The larger of the objects measured up to 24 metres long and appeared to be floating on water several thousand metres deep, they said.

Speaking at a news conference, Royal Australian Air Force Air Commodore John McGarry said: "It's credible enough to divert the search to this area on the basis it provides a promising lead to what might be wreckage from the debris field."

Acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the country was informed of the news yesterday morning – despite the image being stamped with March 16.

He went on to say that Malaysia has not found reluctance from any of its search partners, and described the images as a "credible lead".

Another official in Malaysia said investigators were "hopeful but cautious" about the Australian discovery.

General manager of the emergency response division of Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) John Young said an Australian air force AP-3C Orion plane was already at the scene, and more aircraft were on the way.

He said a merchant ship diverted for the task was due to arrive in a few hours,

A Royal Australian Navy ship equipped to recover any objects was also en route, but was still "some days away".

An RAAF Hercules aircraft is dropping marker bouys in the area in attempt to assess the amount and direction of drift in the area.

Britain has sent Royal Navy survey ship HMS Echo to help with the search, the Ministry of Defence said.

China, whose citizens made up about two-thirds of the passengers on board the flight, said it was also sending ships to the area of the sighting, but it was not clear how long it would take for the vessels to reach the scene.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, told parliament the objects had been located with satellite imagery.

He said: "New and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.”

"The task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out they are not related to the search for MH370,"

The dimensions of the objects are consistent with at least one of the objects possibly being the major part of a 777-200ER wing, which is around 27 metres long.

The relatively large size of the objects would also suggest that, if they do come from the missing aircraft, it was intact when it went into the water.

But Captain Bimal Sharma, whose sister Chandrika is onboard the missing plane says he does not believe the debris is that of the plane.

Speaking to the BBC he said: “I don’t get the logic behind this, being from the marine industry I know all about radar. I was in the mechant navy – I’ve sailed ships through this area.

“The theory that the pan turned around and it came back and it is in the position – why did radar not detect it?

“The solid mass of an aircraft must keep coming in a radar sweep everytime.

“In this day and age I don’t belive it could have reached here and there’s no radar.”

It emerged last night that the plane’s pilot made a phone call moments before the plane took off.

Investigators are now looking into who Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah spoke to from the cock pit of the Boeing 777.

They are also examining a flight simulator which was removed from his home.